4 Habits of Highly Effective Social Media Managers

Years ago, as businesses and social media began to mesh; your boss was looking around the office for someone who could handle the social media accounts for the business. You were chosen because you were the only one that had a Facebook page and a twitter account. Boom! You’ve got a brand new title and a bigger desk. Hey, look at you…you’re a Social Media Manager! Fast forward to 2015 and social media is now part of every businesses marketing department. Still, there are too many Social Media Managers who don’t know how to communicate to a wide audience across various channels. So, we decided to give you the best tips we know, for you to become a more effective Social Media Manager.

Know your audience. Not everyone uses every platform. Folks on Twitter do not necessarily play on Facebook. Pinterest users are not always active on Instagram and so on. So, the trick is to really get to know your audience. Are they old? Young? Male or Female? Once you know who they are, and where they shop, you can target those customers more directly. Start a conversation, ask questions or share recipes with them. Then, once you’ve got their attention…offer them something that’ll get them in the door!

Curate content. Interesting content doesn’t always have to come directly from Social Media Managers. Sometimes the best ideas and articles can be found elsewhere on the web. Test and decide what type of articles your followers like best. Decide what keeps them engaged and constantly checking-in on your pages? Seek out Interesting and helpful material and share away!

Create Social Media Schedules and Spreadsheets. Social Media can get messy. So many platforms, so little time! A great way to stay focused is to have a schedule. Create a list of things you’ll do each day, on each platform you manage. Plan your posts around holidays, your customers’ birthdays and in-store events. Once it’s down on paper it’s hard to forget. Plus, you can always report back to the boss on “time-spent” on each platform.

Measure Your Results. Now that you’ve had a great week at the office, it’s time to show the rest of the team how valuable Social Media is to the business. Be prepared to show the results they got for your time on-line. It’s great that you achieved a bunch of “likes” on your Facebook page, but how many of those converted to actual sales? How many people came in the door because of something you offered or brought attention to, via social media? Now, translate these findings in to actual dollars-and-cents for the business. They’ll thank you and you’ll get the reward of knowing your efforts were not in vain.

John Lorefice is a Digital Media Director, Writer and Video Producer working hard to save the planet, change our political system and drink his share of the worlds coffee supply along the way. Questions, thoughts, comments or business enquiries can be sent to: sociallyexceptional@gmail.com.